doingnightowlthingshttps://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com
#DoingNightOwlThings is what I'm all about. Filmmaking, photographing, storytelling.
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Iowa Deer Hunting 2013https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/iowa-deer-hunting-2013/
https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/iowa-deer-hunting-2013/#respondTue, 18 Feb 2014 04:26:16 +0000http://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/?p=49Winter is starting to get to me. I’m not one of those people who complains about winter for months, but this winter has been long, and I’m starting to get stir crazy. I enjoy living in Western Wisconsin where we get to experience all four seasons. In the spring, you have shed hunting, turkey seasons, and fishing opener. The summertime is for yard games, bonfires, baseball, weekends at the lake and time spent outside. The fall of course means hunting, non-stop hunting, as well as football. Winter simply makes you appreciate all those other seasons! I used to really enjoy snowmobiling and ice fishing, but it seems I don’t have much time for those things anymore. I guess I can try to make the time, but winter is my busy time editing – especially this winter.

I’m currently working on editing episodes of Claim Your Trophy TV, and getting ready for our National Television Debut this spring. Nick Swanson and I have spent quite a bit of time over the last 16 months filming hunts from all over North America to put together 13 episodes for Season One of CYT. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been in the grind of editing TV episodes, and I’m realizing very quickly that time flies when you’re having fun!

Screenflow of the Iowa Episode in Premiere Pro

I just recently completed editing an episode from our Iowa Deer Hunt back in Mid-December of 2013. This is our most recent hunting trip and will likely be one of the first episodes we show for Claim Your Trophy. Since my blog wasn’t live during that trip, I’ll just re-live it here for a minute.

Nick’s Iowa 8 pointer. I filmed this hunt in December 2013.

Without giving too much away, the trip went like this: we arrived at the farmhouse on Friday. We hunted Saturday, Sunday, and part of Monday and had a heck of a time meeting some new people as well as hunting some incredible terrain. Most of the hunts were deer drives, with a few evening sits from a box blind.

I have never seen so many deer in my life! In two days of full-out deer drives, we must have seen 100+ deer a day. Some drives we’d see upwards of 30-50 deer. The action was intense and we were lucky enough to fill a couple tags. You’ll have to wait to see the episode to find out exactly what went down but it was my first time filming a hunt in Iowa and the so-called “Land of the Giants” did NOT disappoint.

Once this episode airs on TV in April, I will likely blog with more details about the hunt, so that’s it for now!

]]>https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/iowa-deer-hunting-2013/feed/0nightowlmediagroupllcScreenflow of the Iowa Episode in Premiere ProNick's Iowa 8 pointer. I filmed this hunt in December 2013.Birthday Week – Thank Youhttps://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/birthday-week-thank-you/
https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/birthday-week-thank-you/#respondFri, 07 Feb 2014 15:46:16 +0000http://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/?p=46Having a birthday on a Wednesday is nothing special. Then again, there’s really nothing magical about turning 29 so I guess I really don’t care. Technically, a mid-week birthday means you get two weekends in a row to celebrate. The Super Bowl was a dud this year, but I spent the weekend prior to my birthday with friends and had a good time.

Wednesday I went out for some food and drinks with some buddies, played basketball at open gym, and went to bed at a decent time due to having to take my parents to the airport early Thursday morning. Thanks to DePines, Travesty, Scotty, and Hubes for celebrating with me at Philander’s.

I want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday. The calls, texts, Facebook messages, cards and gifts were all wonderful. I may still do something special this weekend, nothing major planned yet, but I did take some time out of my Wednesday afternoon to put together a quick GoPro video.

I also made a purchase for myself of some new shades. If you haven’t checked out Nectar Sunglasses, you should.. they are the most stylish and comfortable shades I’ve ever worn and are a reasonable price.

Nectar Shades – Bungalow

]]>https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/birthday-week-thank-you/feed/0nightowlmediagroupllcNectar Shades - BungalowHumble Beginnings – Chasing my dreamshttps://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/humble-beginnings-chasing-my-dreams/
https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/humble-beginnings-chasing-my-dreams/#commentsTue, 04 Feb 2014 00:58:35 +0000http://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/?p=33Well, in just two days I will be turning 29. It’s kind of a weird age I guess. A lot of people freak out when they turn 30, like it’s some sort of crazy milestone. I don’t really look at age like that. A lot of people compare themselves to their friends, family, idols and role models. Well, I don’t exactly like to do that either. A few years back I was working my ass off in the corporate world. I got my foot in the door with an incredible company that many people from my hometown have worked at including my mother for nearly 18 years. A company that has been around since 1880. Needless to say, I was well on my way to a life-long career in the corporate world. After busting my butt for 14 months in the entry-level position I was hired for, I got myself a promotion. I was on cloud-9 because at the age of 21, I had no college degree, I had no corporate experience, I had none of the typical “qualifications” you need on paper for the job I was hired for. But, I didn’t let that stop me. I took another promotion within two years of starting with the company and was well on a fast-track to becoming a lifer there.

Then when I was about 23-24 years old, I had an epiphany. I decided that I no longer wanted to work 40+ hours a week in a cubicle listening to a boss tell me how to do my job. I didn’t need it. I was finding myself daydreaming about what I’d rather be doing if I wasn’t in downtown St. Paul. Would I have more time to spend outdoors? Would I have more time to spend with family? Would I get to travel the world and see awesome things?

These are the places I’ve visited and worked since leaving the corporate world.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve always had a passion for the outdoors. I was introduced to hunting at a young age thanks to my father, uncles and grandpa. I’m not the greatest hunter in the world, but hunting is something I truly enjoy and I knew I wanted to be doing something for a living working in the outdoors. I wanted to be able to hunt as much as possible. It was somewhere around 2008-2009 when my eyes were opened to an entirely new experience. I was asked to film for a show called “Battle of the B.O.W.” and compete on the reality series that would air on Sportsman Channel during first quarter of 2010. Man was that a cool experience. Just a novice cameraman and bowhunter, filming his hunts for national television. It was at that time that I hit a wall with work, I hated it. I had terrible days at work and wanted to give up, but I found my passion with filmmaking. I walked away from the corporate world, the benefits, the paid time off to pursue my dream of filming the outdoors.

Well, I always made a goal to be self-employed doing what I love by the time I’m 30. I can honestly say proudly that I am self-employed and I’m not yet 30 – mission accomplished! That’s a huge accomplishment for me. I didn’t come from money, I wasn’t handed anything on a silver platter, I had to earn everything in my life and whether or not you want to think I’ve “made-it” I like to think that I have. In no way shape or form am I content with where I am… no way, this is only the beginning! Things are taking off faster than I can really even imagine and I’m grateful for every person who’s been a part of my life and this journey to get here, especially you Mom. I love you!

There’s no video to post with this blog, there are no hashtags used, no #DoingNightOwlThings (oops, I used one now). It’s just simply a brief explanation of my life and how I choose to live it. I GOT MY START CHASING MY DREAM A FEW YEARS BACK, NOW I AM LIVING IT.

I like to end my blog posts with a quote so when I googled quotes about chasing your dreams I found this:

“I am thankful to all those who said no to me. It’s because of them that I did it myself.” -Albert Einstein

]]>https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/humble-beginnings-chasing-my-dreams/feed/2nightowlmediagroupllcThese are the places I've visited and worked since leaving the corporate world.#DoingNightOwlThingshttps://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/doingnightowlthings/
https://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/doingnightowlthings/#respondFri, 24 Jan 2014 18:35:02 +0000http://doingnightowlthings.wordpress.com/?p=6So what does #DoingNightOwlThings mean? Well, a while back, I was taking photos of a whitetail deer mount for my friend Dusty to showcase the work of our taxidermist, Josh Sykora of Sykora’s Taxidermy in Hastings, Minnesota. His wife called him and asked what we were up to that early summer afternoon. Dusty responded “Doing Night Owl Things” and it just kind of stuck. I refer to #DoingNightOwlThings whenever I am being creative. Afterall, a Night Owl refers to a person who is most active or creative during the night. Back in the winter of 2011-12, I was up late working on a school project. I was trying to come up with a company name for my film production company that I wanted to start, and Night Owl just seemed to fit. Thus, Night Owl Media Group was born in January of 2012, and the hashtag #DoingNightOwlThings was born shortly thereafter.

#DoingNightOwlThings isn’t just a hashtag, it’s my way of life. I like to think I’ve always had a creative mind. Growing up, my idea of what I wanted to be in life was always something that revolved around being creative. In high school careers class, I remember the two main careers I wanted to pursue were architecture or taxidermy. Both of which require creative artistry. Well, I never did pursue either of those careers, but I have found my passion with filmmaking. I’ve spent the last several years practicing my craft and getting better at what I do, always learning and adapting to the industry, trying to stay at the top of my game.

I’m going to end this blog with a quote from Albert Einstein. “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”